January 26, 2008

Paul Hardcastle Unveils New Website

Fans of Paul Hardcastle, who has a Top 5 smooth jazz single with “Lucky Star,” haven’t had many places to catch up on the goings-on of the British-based instrumentalist and producer since he closed up his official website a few years ago. There are unauthorized fan sites, and his record label has some biographical information at trippinrecords.com.

Now, however, Hardcastle has just unveiled a personalized website at paulhardcastle19.com. The “19,” by the way, refers to his worldwide smash hit from 1985. The home page features a full stream of “The Return of the Rainman,” a song taken from his forthcoming CD, Hardcastle 5. Hardcastle has also included exclusive photos of himself, friends and family, a news section where he maintains a blog and an “Exclusive” section where he’ll highlight songs. And just added are two treats: a never-before-released tune titled "Run Free" and a track Hardcastle recorded titled "70s Cop Show," which he says could wind up a future CD.

There are also separate sections on both of his kids, 21-year-old Maxine (pictured in photo) and 16-year-old Paul Jr. Both have appeared on their father’s CDs, and in fact Hardcastle Jr. wrote and performed a song called “Take 1” for Hardcastle 5, which will be released Feb. 5.

"It’s got some funny bits about my son, about Maxine, what she’s doing," Hardcastle says. "And it’s also go some photos of when my wife did me a surprise party over in Spain for my 50th birthday. So yeah, it’s just meant as a little bit of fun. Just for catching up with little bits of news and things like that. It’s just for a laugh, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it."